Abstract

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) appears to be involved in the sympathetic regulation of vascular tone. To assess the putative role of NPY in mesenteric circulation, the release and biological effect of NPY were examined after electrical stimulation of perimesenteric arterial nerves. Nerve stimulation with trains of 2-30 Hz increased the perfusion pressure of the arterially perfused rat mesenteric bed in a frequency- and time-dependent fashion. Trains of 15-30 Hz significantly displaced to the left, approximately threefold, the noradrenaline (NA)-induced pressor concentration-response curve, in addition to increasing significantly its efficacy. Perfusion with 10 nM exogenous NPY mimicked the electrical stimulation effect, causing a threefold leftward shift of the NA concentration-response curve and increasing the maximal NA response. These effects were antagonized by 100 nM BIBP 3226, indicating the activity of NPY-Y 1 receptors. Electrical stimulation of the perimesenteric nerves released immunoreactive NPY (ir- NPY) in a frequency-dependent fashion; the ir-NPY coelutes with synthetic NPY as confirmed by HPLC. Both the electrically induced pressor response and the calcium-dependent release of NPY were obliterated in preparations perfused with 1 ?M guanethidine or in rats pretreated intravenously for 48 h with 6- hydroxydopamine, thus revealing the sympathetic origin of these phenomena. Only a small proportion of the total NPY content in the perimesenteric arterial nerves is released after electrical stimulation. Chromatographic studies of the physiological sources of the ir-NPY support that NPY fragments are generated via peptidase degradation. The present findings demonstrate that NPY is released from the perimesenteric arterial sympathetic nerves and acts, via the activation of NPY-Y 1 receptors, as the mediator responsible for the potentiation of NA's effect on perfusion pressure in the isolated rat mesenteric bed.